Axis of Resistance

Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters in the Gaza Strip agreed to a ceasefire from 10 p.m. on Saturday to end the deadly fighting, the BBC reported, citing Palestinian sources.

The truce was reached in negotiations brokered by Egypt. Israel and Islamic Jihad have yet to comment.

At least 12 people were killed in the latest air raids on Gaza Strip by Israel's military on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported, adding that 20 others sustained injuries in an operation conducted early morning.

The Israeli army said it killed three leaders of the Islamic Jihad militant group Tuesday in air strikes on Gaza, which left a dozen dead according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.

The ministry said that women and children were among the dead, publishing a list of names without ages or detailing any affiliations.

Israel launched rare strikes in southern Lebanon early Friday and pressed on with bombing targets in the Gaza Strip, marking a widening escalation in the region following violence this week at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.

The number of victims of Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip rose to 32, including six children, AFP reported, citing health authorities in the territory controlled by Hamas. More than 200 Palestinians were injured in the bombing.

"Islamic Jihad" retaliated with rocket fire against Israel. More than 400 rockets were fired, most of them were intercepted.

Jerusalem is bracing for a controversial "flag march" by Israelis on Sunday that has sparked warnings of a new escalation from Palestinian factions.

The "March of the Flags" threatens to exacerbate weeks of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and comes as Israel marks "Jerusalem Day", commemorating the city's unification following the capture of east Jerusalem in 1967.

The air strike is a response to the missile attack on US targets in Iraq and was of limited dimensions, it is possible that there would be no escalation, Reuters reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that 17 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in those attacks.

The United States said on June 11 it would reduce troops in Iraq in the coming months as friction between the two countries eased under a new U.S.-friendly premier in Baghdad.

The United States also promised support to prop up the struggling Iraqi economy as the two nations held their first strategic dialogue in more than a decade.

Iraq's president on March 17 named ex-Najaf city governor Adnan Zurfi as the new prime minister, tasked with ruling a country hit by street protests, military unrest and now the coronavirus pandemic.

The nomination came hours after two rockets hit an Iraqi military base hosting U.S-led coalition and NATO troops, the third such attack within a week, without causing casualties.

Representatives of Iraqi Shia groups have decided to unite to expel U.S. forces from Iraq, a spokesman for one of them said on Jan. 14.

The decision to "unite and coordinate forces" was taken to fully liberate Iraq from U.S. forces, Nasr al-Shammari, from the Al Nujaba Movement, told Iraq's official news agency INA.